


Helping out

by Hashilavalamp



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Countries Using Human Names, M/M, caring but unhelpful Ivan
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-26
Updated: 2016-06-26
Packaged: 2018-07-18 11:08:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 925
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7312624
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hashilavalamp/pseuds/Hashilavalamp
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ludwig has a terrible tendency to work himself into a panic about things, though appearing on TV to deliver a short speech may be appropriate to freak out about. And Ivan just wants to help.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Helping out

**Author's Note:**

> Just a short silly thing I wrote while my Internet was down! A friend gave me the idea for it~

It may already be past midnight, but instead of even contemplating sleep, Ivan dragged himself to the couch and impatiently switched through channels until he finally found the one he was looking for.

‘Das Erste. ...Or ARD, if that. tells you more’ Ludwig had told him, flustered already and picking at his cuticles as if he were due to appear before the cameras in a few minutes instead of a few days; special slot, just right after the news, the much awaited melodramatic movie usually set for that time will start a few minutes later, even international channels will broadcast it.   
So, a whole lot of people will see him speak on TV, and Ludwig looked positively sick with nerves.

And what kind of boyfriend would Ivan be if he didn’t witness the event from start to finish? Plus Ludwig in a suit is always a pleasant sight.

A really pleasant sight, alright.

He’s still just standing in the background among the other serious men in their suits, posture rigid and appearance with not a hair out of place as usual and oh god. His face. His face is pale as a sheet and set in stone. He’s dead inside. Maybe he’s just going to keel over once he has to take the podium and speak his part, and even if that’d be hilarious, Ivan knows Ludwig would never in his life get over it, already because there’d be enough video clips on the Internet afterwards to remind him.

The Russian can’t help but smile; Ludwig always cares so much about doing and saying the right things the right way and works himself in a frenzy over the potential mistakes he hasn’t even made yet and likely won’t. And he believes he can never be forgiven for anything. (and sometimes Ivan realizes he hasn't forgiven completely either)   
So he needs somebody to get him out of that mindset.   
Ah, and that somebody is Ivan.

Laughing quietly to himself, he grabs around for the cell phone he left lying around here somewhere and scrolls through the few contacts he’s saved on it. Took a while to get all his old friends to give him their damn numbers, Feliks looked like he’d rather die for some reason before he complied and Elizaveta hit him when he first asked; Ludwig was the only one who approached him. For business related purposes! But still! It’s come in handy for definitely non-business things, and this, well, is going to be both.   
Time to hurry up though before that old guy is done with his incomprehensible ramblings and Ludwig won’t have the opportunity to look at his phone again.

Wasting no more time, Ivan strips himself of his scarf and his thick sweater; he glances down at his pants, considering for a moment whether they should go too or if not maybe that’s a little too much for Ludwig’s poor heart. Once Ivan tried to send a fun picture like that and Ludwig refused to speak to him for several days and Ivan does want to respect his boundaries so… ah, no, better not. Pants stay on. He lies down on his couch only half-naked, hits ‘send photo’, ‘take photo’, and poses.   
He’s not sure whether he managed to get the look right, the one where Ludwig always dissolves into embarrassed silence and traitorously fidgeting hands, but even if not, this should be enough to get some reaction from him! He quickly types out a “Watching you on TV right now! ))” and looks up just in time to see Ludwig shift a little on the TV screen.

For a moment, Ivan fears that Ludwig will think it is not proper to check what might just be a terribly important message that could decide the fate of the world while there are cameras all around, but then Ludwig seems to shift again a little as he must be taking out his phone now—

He may not be in the focus of the cameras, but still Ivan sees that he nearly stumbles so that the men next to him give him confused looks, ready to steady him in case he were about to faint.

Ivan knows _immediately_ that Ludwig will try to make him pay for this as soon as he gets the chance, and that even though Ivan did him a favor and gave him something to take his mind off of his anxiety!

The previous speaker finally steps aside for Ludwig and Ivan’s heart flutters when he spots a suspicious redness burning on the German’s cheeks. Ludwig actually stumbles over his first few words, clears his throat, begins anew—

Ivan is reminded again that he is completely enamored with this ridiculously uptight man and that none of the anxiety spells on his part will ever turn him away. Even once Ludwig has gotten the hang of it and delivers his speech with utmost seriousness, voice steady and calm, the Russian sighs happily and keeps on watching, not even listening to what his beloved actually says. If it’s actually important, somebody will tell him again.

Two hours later, when the TV is already turned off and Ivan is dozing off on the couch still, his phone suddenly vibrates. He’s got a pretty good idea of what kind of message it’ll be, so he smiles as he looks at it but surprisingly enough, it’s not from Ludwig, but from a number Ivan is not familiar with. It’s a file – an image.

 

Of a very pissed off Gilbert with a gun in his hand.


End file.
